Nowhere to Lay His Head

Our passage today occurs at the turning point in the Gospel of Luke.  At the moment when Peter declares Jesus the messiah, Jesus “turns his face” to Jerusalem.  While on the way to Jerusalem, a Samaritan village refuses to receive Jesus.  The disciples struggle with this rejection, but Jesus just keeps moving toward Jerusalem.  In contrast, when Jesus begins his final trip to Jerusalem in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, Jesus goes around Samaria, but in Luke, Jesus goes directly through Samaria, where Luke inserts this story about rejection.  When Jesus is rejected, the disciples get angry and want to invoke fire from heaven on the village, but Jesus rebukes them and they move on to a different village.  Then, in the second half of our passage, some would-be followers tell Jesus they will follow him anywhere, but before they can follow him, they have some other things to take care of.  And this is where Luke gives us a series of replies from Jesus about the new urgency of his mission. 

Well, let’s dig in, but first, let’s pray together.  “Dear God who gives rest, even rest to Jesus who had nowhere to lay his head,  help us understand how rest and burying the dead and not looking back while plowing all relate to Jesus’ urgent journey to Jerusalem.  Amen.”

So what is this passage about?  What does the rejection by the Samaritan village, and then Jesus talking about nowhere to rest his head, letting the dead bury the dead and not looking back while plowing—what is the focus of all these short stories?  I think they are all examples of how not to be a good disciple—they are all excuses that people use to avoid becoming good disciples.  They are all examples of how easy it is to say you will follow Jesus, but how hard it can be to live a life following Jesus. 

This ninth chapter in Luke is the turning point of the Gospel.  Earlier in this chapter, Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah, and from that point on, the story changes from Jesus’ ministry in Galilee to Jesus heading towards Jerusalem and his destiny there.  Along the way, also in this chapter, Luke tells of the transfiguration, where Jesus appears with Moses and Elijah.  This is important, because just 25 verses later, in our passage today, the story tells us that Peter refers to the story of Elijah calling down fire to consume the messengers of the king in 2 King 1:10.  Peter asks Jesus if he can call down fire in revenge.  But Jesus responds to Peter by saying we will not ask for fire like Elijah did, but we will simply move on, and leave the rest to God.  Jesus is clear here—if you are a good disciple and your message is rejected, just move on.  Jesus was itinerant—he moved from village to village his entire ministry, dependent upon the goodness and hospitality of those who responded to his message of a loving God.  Withholding hospitality has always been a major sin in the Abrahamic traditions.  And in our passage, the Samaritan village rejects both Jesus’ message and denied Jesus hospitality.  We know this because our passage says they did not receive Jesus—he simply was not welcome in their village.  So many times in the Gospels, Jesus says if your message is not received, just move on.  Seven times in Luke, Jesus is forced to move on because a local mob is angry, or they threaten Jesus because of what he says, or they get violent because they do not agree with Jesus.  In our passage today, we are given an amazing detail in our first verse—“When the time drew near for Jesus to be taken up, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.”  Jesus knew he was headed to the very place where he would be required to pay with his life.  Jesus has made a life-decision to go to Jerusalem and face his destiny of the cross.  Jesus uses this final journey to Jerusalem to teach the disciples about following him —about discipleship.  This is Jesus life-teaching about the things that will be required of his small band of followers.  Note that in these verses, Jesus sends the disciples ahead into this Samaritan village to begin to teach them how to deal with rejection. 

So the first teaching of our passage is that when God’s message of love is rejected that we should just move on—don’t stir up trouble if people can’t hear your Gospel message of love.  If people can’t or don’t want to hear your teaching or offer you hospitality, move on.  Sometimes in life, we have to just move on—even if we are right.  Jesus says move on and let the folks behind you go.  Jesus never settled down anywhere during his ministry.  When Jesus first arrived in a new place, people would flock him around to see his miracles, but eventually, Jesus’ teaching became too hard for the crowds to hear, and Jesus was forced to move on.  And while moving on, to someone in the crowds who said they wanted to follow Jesus, Jesus responded with a memorable comment.  “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”  Jesus says the Gospel is often not popular.  If you preach the Gospel you will comfort the afflicted, but you will also afflict the comfortable—and when that happens, the locals might deem that you are not a good fit—and you will be asked to move on.  Jesus uses the name “Son of Man” to refer to himself as the model human being, the son of the first man, Adam.  Jesus models discipleship by reminding the crowd that even while animals have homes, that by living the Gospel life, you will not always be welcome.  The Samaritan village rejected Jesus’ message—so that very moment when Jesus spoke, he literally had been denied hospitality—he had nowhere to lay his head.  This, Jesus tells us plainly, will also happen to us if we take up our cross and live God’s word in our life.

Then, someone else in the crowd said I will follow you, but I have some details to finish up before I can leave.  Jesus is clear again.  Look, he says, this is urgent work—I am headed to Jerusalem and the time to follow me is now!  Our passage emphasizes that we seem to always have an excuse—maybe even a legitimate real excuse, not to follow Jesus.  But Jesus says you must follow him now, and follow him first.  Nothing can be more important to a disciple than following Jesus, even the legitimate, honest, genuine requirements of our lives.  Jesus’ response to this person needing to take care of life’s details, for instance burying the dead, summarizes those of us who try to get to heaven by following the rules instead of living loving kindness and mercy.  Following Jesus in love is more important than the rules, Jesus declares; even important rules like the commandment to honor your parents.  Taking up our cross and following Jesus is the most important thing in a disciple’s life.  However, we often use the rules as an excuse to block us from following Jesus.  Next time you find yourself falling back on a rule to avoid following Jesus (sometimes we call these rules “tradition,” or the way we have always done it!) remember that Jesus says following him in love trumps the rules every time.  Now I know that is not easy to hear when you live in the Land of Steady Habits, but Jesus teaches that love trumps the rules, even the rules of steady habits or traditions.

Finally, another would-be follower says I’ll follow you, just let me finish up some final details and I’ll be right there.  Jesus says, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”  What is Jesus talking about here?  Well, Luke’s hearers would have known the connection.  They would have known the story that when good old Elijah called Elisha to be his disciple in 1 Kings 19 that Elisha was plowing.  Looking forward while plowing is looking toward God’s call of discipleship.  Looking back is turning our attention from God’s call to human details—taking our eyes off Jesus.  Jesus says, look, I know there are many distractions from following me—but keep your eyes on following the Gospel of love.  Keep your mind stayed on Jesus.  Why, there’s an old gospel about this…. [sing]  Woke up this morning with my mind, stayed on Jesus…

Well, we obviously must do some self-searching with this passage as a guide.  Has our hospitality been less than receptive to God’s message of love, like the Samaritans?  Have we ever turned our back on welcoming someone who had their face set on God’s Gospel?  Or, if God’s message through us has ever been rejected, how did we respond?  Did we ask God to bring down fire on those who rejected us, or did we, instead, shake the sand from our sandals and just move on?  Then the second half of our passage asks us each individually the very difficult question, “What convenient excuses do we have for not staying our mind on Jesus?”  Do you stay the course following Jesus, or do you turn your back on Jesus and try to be nice so that you will be accepted?  What traditions or rules prevent you from following Jesus?  What legitimate things do you use as an excuse to keep you from placing Jesus first in your life?  Or what details—important details of your modern family life—keep you from focusing primarily on Jesus?  What keeps you from being the disciple that Jesus dreams you to be?  [pause]  No really.  What is keeping you from staying your mind on Jesus?  [pause]

Whatever excuse you have for your wandering mind, no matter how important or legitimate or justifiable it may seem to be, Jesus says here that whatever your excuse is, it is keeping you from being the disciple Jesus and God yearn for you to be. 

“Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”  The true Gospel is not static, it keeps moving, it is not hide-bound by tradition or human rules, Jesus teaches us.  The true Gospel is sometimes hard to hear.  And all of our excuses to avoid being followers of Jesus are just that.  Excuses. 

Jesus says, “Follow me!” to Jerusalem.  I think he meant it.  Amen.